How Jalen Williams Quietly Became the Thunder’s Most Unexpected Weapon
Williams scored favorably in the defensive version of our catch-all one-number metric, defensive DRIP, at 1.0 (87th percentile) â the same mark as guys like Jonathan Isaac and Kristaps Porzingis (and just a hair below someone like Jaren Jackson Jr.).
What makes Williams such an impactful defender is his ability to create turnovers (86th percentile in steal rate), provide secondary rim protection (78th percentile block rate among non-centers), and matchup versatility.
In the postseason, Williams continues to turn driving gaps into prisons where ball handlers are stripped of the basketball (2.3% steal rate in playoffs) and finishing shots in the paint with his 7-foot-2 wingspan lurking remains more difficult than training for a decathlon (1.6% block rate). But what has really aided the Thunderâs elite unit (1st in D-TRACR) is his ability to handle a variety of different matchups.Â
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